DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH

DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH
JAZZ SUITES NO. 1 AND 2 (2000)
320 KBPS

There are two sides to Shostakovich's music and most listeners tend to know only the darker side. There is wit in Shostakovich's music although usually in acidic or sardonic way. There was a time before the Stalinist purges and the Second World War when the wit really flourished and Yablonsky and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra (formerly the U.S.S.R Symphony Orchestra) give us some very fine examples of it.
The plot of "The Bolt" (evil capitalist industrialists brought low by rightous socialism) so embarassed the composer that he rarely spoke of it and never pushed for a revival after its initial run. He did realize that he wrote some very good music for it and from it he made this nearly half hour suite. The Jazz Suites are really works with jazz influences and were written for theatre orchestras. There is some really sprarkingy and witty music here with the saxophones at times bringing Kurt Weill to mind although most were written before Weill's more well know works. The darkly tinged waltzes of the Second Suite are really quite fine managing to be both beautiful and a bit sinister.
The cd closes with Shostakovich's arrange of "Tea For Two" which was called in some countries "Tahiti Foxtrot" . Shostakovich made the arrangement because of a bet with the conductor Malko. The bet was that Shostakovich couldn't take the piano score and orchestrate it in an hour. He did it in 40 minutes. The performances are very good managing to keep a sense of humor about the music. Very striking cover art using a painting of the Russian theatre impressario Meyerchold. Detailed notes and a very inexpensive price (there are far less idiomatic performances of these works selling at 3 times the price) are just more icing on the cake. If you just know Shostakovich's music from the more serious works then you only know a part of him. This cd shows that Shostakovich could smile albeit with a wry grin.

The Bolt: Suite from the Ballet, Op. 27a
1. Overture (Introduction)
2. The Bureauocrat (Polka)
3. The Drayman's Dance (Variations)
4. Kozelkov’s Dance with Friends (Tango)
5. Intermezzo
6. The Dance of the Colonial Slave-Girl
7. The Conciliator
8. General Dance of Enthusiasm and Apotheosis (Finale)
Jazz Suite No. 2 (Suite for Stage Variety Orchestra)
9. March
10. Lyric Waltz
11. Dance 1
12. Waltz 1
13. Little Polka
14. Waltz 2
15. Dance 2
16. Finale
Jazz Suite No. 1
17. Waltz
18. Polka
19. Foxtrot
Taiti Trot (Tahiti Trot), Op. 16 (arr. of V. Youmans - Tea for Two)
20. Taiti Trot (Tahiti Trot), Op. 16